A certain man asked a mystic theologian, “If any one weep loudly during the ritual prayer and moan and lament, is his prayer rendered void?” He replied, “The name of those (tears) is ‘water of the eye’: consider what that weeper has seen: if he has seen (felt) longing for God or repentance for a sin and weeps, his prayer is not spoilt; nay, it attains perfection, for ‘there is no prayer without presence of the heart’; but if he has (inwardly) seen bodily sickness or the loss of a son, his prayer is spoilt, for the foundation of prayer is the abandonment of the body and the abandonment of sons, like Abraham, who was offering his son as a sacrifice in order to perfect his prayer and giving up his body to Nimrod's fire; and Mustafá (Mohammed), on whom be peace, was commanded (by God) to act after these manners: “follow the religion of Abraham.” “Verily ye have had a good example in Abraham.”

آن یکی پرسید از مفتی به راز ** گر کسی گرید به نوحه در نماز 1265

A certain man asked a mufti in private, “If any one weep lamentably during the ritual prayer,

آن نماز او عجب باطل شود ** یا نمازش جایز و کامل بود

I wonder, will his prayer be rendered void, or will his prayer be licit and perfect?”

گفت آب دیده نامش بهر چیست ** بنگری تا که چه دید او و گریست

He replied, “Wherefore is it named ‘the water of the eye’? You should consider what it (the eye) saw and (then) wept.

آب دیده تا چه دید او از نهان ** تا بدان شد او ز چشمه‌ی خود روان

Consider what the water of the eye saw in secret, so that on that account it began to flow from its spring.

آن جهان گر دیده است آن پر نیاز ** رونقی یابد ز نوحه آن نماز

If the supplicant has seen yonder world, that prayer (of his) gains a lustre from (his) lamentation;

ور ز رنج تن بد آن گریه و ز سوک ** ریسمان بسکست و هم بشکست دوک 1270

But if that weeping was caused by bodily pain or by mourning (for the dead), the thread is snapped and the spindle too is broken.”

A disciple came in to pay his respects to the Shaykh—and by this (word) “Shaykh” I do not mean one old in years, but one old in understanding and knowledge (of God), even if he is Jesus, on whom be peace, in the cradle, or Yahyá (John the Baptist), on whom be peace, in the children's school. The disciple saw the Shaykh weeping; he too acted in conformity (with the Shaykh) and wept. When he had finished and gone forth (from the Shaykh's presence), another disciple, who was more cognisant of the Shaykh's spiritual state, impelled by (noble) jealousy, went out quickly after him and said to him, “O brother, (whatever may happen) I shall have told you: for God's sake, for God's sake, beware of thinking or saying that the Shaykh wept and you wept likewise; you must practise self-discipline without hypocrisy for thirty years, and you must traverse ravines and seas full of leviathans, and lofty mountains full of lions and leopards, that you may attain to that weeping of the Shaykh or not attain. If you attain, you will often utter thanksgiving (as immense as is the extent of the earth, described in the words of the Tradition), ‘The earth was gathered together for me.’”

یک مریدی اندر آمد پیش پیر ** پیر اندر گریه بود و در نفیر

A disciple came into the presence of the Pír: the Pír was (engaged) in weeping and lamentation.

شیخ را چون دید گریان آن مرید ** گشت گریان آب از چشمش دوید

When the disciple saw the Shaykh weeping, he began to weep: the tears ran from his eyes.

گوشور یک‌بار خندد کر دو بار ** چونک لاغ املی کند یاری بیار

The man possessed of an ear (sense of hearing) laughs once, when a friend repeats a joke to a friend; the deaf man (laughs) twice: